讓我們繼續來思想「復興禱告」的第六個特點──屬靈的絕望。二十世紀一位重要的神學家卡爾巴特（Karl Barth）曾經說過：「除非我們好像那些絕望的人那樣讀聖經，否則我們並沒有正確地閱讀聖經。」我認為他的意思是，除非我們懂得在屬靈上深深渴望神，否則我們不能體會聖經所描述的人物他們內心的渴求。

我在想，你讀今天的詩篇時，心裡有沒有感受到詩人的那種絕望？魯益思（C.S. Lewis）在評論這首詩篇的時候，說：「開始的十一節是在令人流淚的張力中寫成的。詩人明顯是在極度的絕望中。」當然，詩人在這裡祈求個人復興而不是國家復興，但我們所要掌握的原則是：絕望的禱告帶來有力和正面的結果。

請容許我再次向你提出一個問題：你對周圍的道德和屬靈情況有沒有感到絕望，以致你願意花幾天的時間來禱告和禁食呢？大部分人對禁食的想法的回應是：「唔，事情還沒有絕望到需要那麼做的地步！」有一句古老的話是這樣說的：「絕望的處境需要孤注一擲的措施。」我不知道你怎麼樣看世界的狀況，但我明顯感到事情已經到了絕望的地步。只有當世界的絕望與信徒內心那神聖的絕望相遇時，事情才會有轉機。

We continue looking at the characteristic of spiritual desperation which, we have been saying, usually makes its presence known in all "revival praying". I believe it was Karl Barth who once said: "We do not read our Bibles aright until we read them like desperate men." He meant, I think, that until we become spiritually desperate ourselves we will not be able to recognise the desperation that flowed in the hearts of the men and women who are portrayed in the Scriptures.

I wonder, as you read the psalm that is before us today did you feel the desperation that is present in the heart of the psalmist? Commenting on this psalm, C.S. Lewis said: "The first eleven verses were written in a strain that brings tears to the eyes. He is obviously a desperate man." Of course, the psalmist here is praying for personal revival and not national revival, but the principle to get hold of is this: desperate praying brings powerful and positive results.

Permit me once again to ask you a personal question: Have you ever felt desperate enough about the moral and spiritual conditions around you to spend a few days praying and fasting? Most people's response to the idea of fasting is: "Well, things are not desperate enough to demand that!" There's an old saying that goes: "Desperate situations demand desperate measures," I don't know how you view the world situation, but it seems obvious to me that things are in a desperate state. And they will only change as the desperation in the world is met and countered by a holy desperation in the hearts of the men and women who constitute the Christian Church.